The Madison Cup started off with a bang this morning. The sprinters are duking it out in a match sprint tournament, and most of the endurance riders took to the track for a points race. There are some seriously fast guys in town. The pace was brutal. I managed to snag a single point in the first sprint before suffering off the back. I spent the next several kilometers of the race yo-yoing at the back. Gapped off, then struggling back on. Eventually a move went off the front, the pack surged, and that was it for me. With 42 of 90 laps remaining, I pulled the plug.
The race whittled the field down to probably about 12 guys at the end. Colby Pearce showed his usual tenacity, taking second, while Anibal Borrajo took the win. Holding things down for the locals was Jackie Simes, who must have pulled off a top 10 finish (I'm not certain of all the results). Quite a showing in a UCI class 1 race. Winning today was worth as many UCI points as winning a world cup. Too bad I got smoked.
The madison events start up tonight, and should be blistering. My own plans have been thrown into flux since last night, when I got word from my partner Tom Hanley that he just learned he has mono, so he's going to need to be off the bike for a few weeks. As of right now, I still don't have a partner nailed down, but it looks like there's a good chance I'll be riding with Josh Brown, a junior from New Zealand who has been riding very well over the last few weeks. We'll see how this all unfolds.